Jiri Kulich through the lens of JJ Peterka

[nfreeman]

11 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Lindy won’t allow it and Adams knows his career is on the line here.

...he said bravely.

I sure hope so.

[JoeSchmoe]

I predict that after the right amount of seasoning, he's a bad team 2nd liner / good team 3rd liner. Hopefully he exceeds my expectations and is a good 2nd liner (or even 1st liner) for the Blue and Gold.

[PerreaultForever]

2 hours ago, RochesterExpat said:

I’ve been saying 3 because I am hoping we have Rousek as the 14th forward this season to start and I am absolutely fine with that. If we bring in 4 and that moves Krebs to that 14th/rotational spot, that’s even better. I am also assuming Skinner returns next season. It’s basically three or bust for me. Four is a bonus. But I don’t except more than two additions.

The sad truth is this is how I expect our lineup to be for opening night:

——

JJP - Thompson - Tuch

Benson - Cozens - Quinn

Skinner - Krebs - [Underwhelming Add]

Greenway - Girgensons - [“veteran” on basically league minimum we all forget the name of in 3 years]

Rousek

——

Dahlin - Power

Sammy - Byram

Clifton - Joki

Bryson, Clague

——

This team has turned me into a real pessimist. Not sure I’ve ever hoped to be more wrong about anything with sports before.

This is basically the same line up we ended the season with and you're saying Ruff will just roll out the same lines as Granato? I certainly hope that this is not what happens. This line up will not win. 

[kas23]

I’d say if Savoie or Kulich beat out Cirelli or Ek, the  Kevyn is truly a magician, because I can’t see us trading for either one without one of the above going the other way. #11 alone won’t nearly be enough. 

[RochesterExpat]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

This is basically the same line up we ended the season with and you're saying Ruff will just roll out the same lines as Granato? I certainly hope that this is not what happens. This line up will not win. 

Yes. I don’t expect them to win. Last year we all knew Buffalo needed to add to the defense in the offseason and add to the offense to cover for Jack Quinn’s injury. We got Benson for Quinn who was not a replacement (he still had a good rookie season so this isn’t anything against Benson) and we got the EJ (cheap “veteran”) and Clifton (underwhelming for most of the season). And then we missed the playoffs. Again.

Other than a new coach, what has happened to lead anyone to believe this year will be a different offseason experience?

[LGR4GM]

10 minutes ago, RochesterExpat said:

Yes. I don’t expect them to win. Last year we all knew Buffalo needed to add to the defense in the offseason and add to the offense to cover for Jack Quinn’s injury. We got Benson for Quinn who was not a replacement (he still had a good rookie season so this isn’t anything against Benson) and we got the EJ (cheap “veteran”) and Clifton (underwhelming for most of the season). And then we missed the playoffs. Again.

Other than a new coach, what has happened to lead anyone to believe this year will be a different offseason experience?

I'm with you in that I won't believe Adams has changed until he does. 

[PerreaultForever]

25 minutes ago, RochesterExpat said:

Yes. I don’t expect them to win. Last year we all knew Buffalo needed to add to the defense in the offseason and add to the offense to cover for Jack Quinn’s injury. We got Benson for Quinn who was not a replacement (he still had a good rookie season so this isn’t anything against Benson) and we got the EJ (cheap “veteran”) and Clifton (underwhelming for most of the season). And then we missed the playoffs. Again.

Other than a new coach, what has happened to lead anyone to believe this year will be a different offseason experience?

Well to be fair..............we have to wait until we hit free agency and also see if they make any trades over the summer before deciding on this. Ruff is an improvement and he knows how to win but we don't know if this team will respond to his messages. Adams has to give him the pieces he needs to be successful. We shall see what happens and I will decide if I agree with you in October. 

[Archie Lee]

16 hours ago, RochesterExpat said:

I’ve been saying 3 because I am hoping we have Rousek as the 14th forward this season to start and I am absolutely fine with that. If we bring in 4 and that moves Krebs to that 14th/rotational spot, that’s even better. I am also assuming Skinner returns next season. It’s basically three or bust for me. Four is a bonus. But I don’t except more than two additions.

The sad truth is this is how I expect our lineup to be for opening night:

——

JJP - Thompson - Tuch

Benson - Cozens - Quinn

Skinner - Krebs - [Underwhelming Add]

Greenway - Girgensons - [“veteran” on basically league minimum we all forget the name of in 3 years]

Rousek

——

Dahlin - Power

Sammy - Byram

Clifton - Joki

Bryson, Clague

——

This team has turned me into a real pessimist. Not sure I’ve ever hoped to be more wrong about anything with sports before.

Until we see otherwise, I think the post-off-season roster will be closer to this than we are hoping. Goalies will be UPL and Levi. The D looks mostly right, though I don’t think Clague will be on the team. It will be Johnson or an underwhelming UFA, like Brendan Smith. I think we do trade a prospect or #11 for a 3C and that our general reaction will be of disappointment in the return (Jenner for #11 is the ceiling, Laughton for Rosen and a lesser pick the floor). We will come in $3-5 million under the cap. For some fans it will be surprising how close to the cap we are, but the reality is there is only room for one big move or two-three moderately big moves. 

I don’t see this as “Sabre fan end of the world”. I think it is possible that adding a veteran 3C combined with better coaching, some bounce back years and maturation, will get us close and maybe into a WC spot. But we will not be going into training camp thinking this is a playoff team. Rather, we will be thinking this is a playoff team “IF” a lot of things go right that are far from sure-bets to go right.   

 

Edited June 16 by Archie Lee